in like a/out like a

Whoosh, March went by quickly.

There were a few green smoothies.

And maple olive oil banana bread made with Greek yogurt.

And school.

My parents came over last night for Easter dinner since the kitchen is undergoing renovations. My sister roasted us a leg of lamb, which was delish! I unfortunately did not contribute to this dinner since I’ve been busy with year-end stuff, like usual. I did help with clean up though. Secret: I’ve discovered the magic of the dishwasher. Apparently it can be just as water-efficient as dish washing by hand depending on how full you load the dishwasher. I still love getting through a sink of dishes though.

I had a sunny Easter morning with a hot cross bun my parents gave us. I used to dislike hot cross buns when I was younger, but this was lovely. It didn’t have those weird red or green “cherries”, though there were still some raisins and some dried peel as well as a good nutmeg kick. Still, I think hot crossed buns are an acquired taste.

I hope April isn’t too rainy.

Belated Gung Hay Fat Choy

As I mentioned earlier, the first day of Chinese New Year was last Sunday.

My mom made us breakfast with all the “go” she had made the week before. “Go” has the texture of pudding. She made a variety of go, which I really need to learn how to make soon: savoury (turnip, taro) and sweet (coconut, water chestnut and red bean). What a spread! I felt so lucky.

Later on in the day we went to my aunt’s house for other goodies and to wish everyone a happy new year. My cousins dropped by with their families. There were so many babies, toddlers and kids. Our family gatherings are certainly growing.

For dinner we went to the restaurant we always go to for Chinese New Year because they bring in people to do a dragon dance. The children loved it. It seems very hard to do the dragon dance because the dancers are either supporting the head or the fabric that flows from the head that acts as the body of the “dragon”.

chicken of the sea

On one of my busy days I got some sushi from a nearby surprisingly good take-out sushi place. This was a brown rice avocado and salmon roll. It was so delicious and they were really generous with the fish.

But luckily, I finally had the chance to make something in the kitchen again.

I had some ground chicken hanging around my freezer for way too long–I just had no idea what to do with it. I read about meatloaf muffins which used ground beef in my now go-to recipe book, Fast Flavours, and I decided to use my ground chicken instead. After browsing some other “chicken meatloaf muffin” recipes online, I chose the ingredients I liked in the different recipes and then really tried cooking “without a recipe” and without (too much) measuring. What an interesting change!

These chicken meatloaf muffins ended up including oats, one egg, two finely diced celery stocks, half a shredded carrot, a little Sriracha, a good tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper. I baked them for about half an hour. They tasted pretty good and I was quite happy with myself.

I also finally opened the immersion blender I got for Christmas. I made my first smoothie out of frozen blueberries, yogurt, oats and half a banana. Yum!

This weekend is Chinese New Year, so I’m back home. Tomorrow is Chinese New Year’s Eve, and my immediate family and I will have our “reunion” dinner. On Chinese New Year’s Day (Sunday), I have a fam jam with my extended family. It’s always a good time and I can’t wait.

life in food

Sometimes life feels like this.

I was so excited to try the new quinoa I got from Costco—got to love my mom’s membership—and I was equally excited to have it for breakfast. I must have gotten distracted though. Luckily, the burned bits were surprisingly easy to scrub off, and the quinoa was fine, just crunchy.

Life can look pretty good too, like this roasted sausage, fennel, and peppers dish I made, from a recipe Michael Smith’s Fast Flavours. I wish life were this easy sometimes.  Alrighty, this life analogy is on its last legs now.

I love fennel, amd this was my first time buying and making it. I saved the fronds, which smelled divine, in the freezer to put in a vegetable stock at some point. They may also just hang around the freezer until I have to throw it out. Don’t waste food, Bea!

New Year Soy Sauce Chicken

Happy new year! Oh dear, I am entering the “weird zone” of when it’s OK to wish someone a happy new year, whoops. I had a lovely new year’s eve with a good friend, friends of friends, as well my brother and sister — I think this the first time the three of us have been “out on the town”. We saw Sheezer, an all-lady Weezer cover band, as well as a bunch of other bands and musicians. It was a good night, indeed.

This week my mom taught me how to make Chinese soy sauce chicken, which has been a family recipe for three to four generations. It turns out it is really easy to make. Now I hope to share it with you too!

Soy Sauce Chicken

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

Marinade

1 tbsp cooking wine

2 tbsp soy sauce

Sauce/Braising Liquid

2 tbsp medium soy sauce

4 tbsp dark soy sauce

60 g of brown sugar (~ 1/3 cup, packed)

3 spring onions, chopped into thirds

3 slices of ginger (~ 15 g)

My mom and I actually used Chinese “layered sugar” which is essentially a pressed slab of brown sugar; regular brown sugar will be fine.

Instructions

Butterfly the chicken by cutting out the back rib.

Marinate the chicken in the wine and soy sauce for about half an hour. The idea is just to get some colour on it.

In a large non-stick sauce pan, add the soy sauce, sugar, spring onions, ginger, and the chicken. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat and reduce to a simmer. Cook covered.

After about ten minutes, flip the chicken over and cover again. Spoon sauce over chicken occasionally.

After about another ten minutes, turn the chicken over again, and cook for about ten more minutes until the chicken is done (total cooking time is approximately 30 minutes). You can test whether the chicken is cooked by cutting where the thigh meets the body and seeing if the juices run clear.

Serve the chicken with all the sauce on a large plate.

Makes delicious, moist, sweet and savoury chicken.

Christmas Recap

I have finally emerged from Christmas, but I think I was holding onto my holiday mindset since I was waiting for my brother to arrive from Saskatoon. He got back this morning, because he was working over Christmas. I suppose I just wanted to share  a bit of Christmas with my brother. I was particularly excited for him to open the present I got him because I found it back in September and it seemed perfect for him. I think he liked it.

Christmas was a lovely time to spend with family. Some of my cousins and their children stopped by for a bit to say hi. It was definitely different having younger children around! My aunt and uncle joined us for dinner.

For our dinner, I made crispy roasted potatoes: crispy on the top like a potato chip and soft in the middle. Yum! Thank goodness for the food processor – it would have taken forever slicing the potatoes with a mandolin.

Unfortunately I was in such a rush I didn’t snap a shot of the main event of Christmas dinner: my mom’s delicious Cornish hens in an ale barbecue sauce. My mom first made Cornish hens for Christmas about four years ago to change things up. We liked it so much that Cornish hens are now a yearly tradition on Christmas. We make sure to have turkey on Thanksgiving.

For dessert, we had my mom’s trifle. We also had my Christmas cake that I made back in October! Mm, this was sweet and rich. It was definitely fulfilling just making this cake and feeding it for the last couple months.

Lots of dried fruit

I just came back from a buffet with my dad’s side of the family. It was great seeing my cousins again. Now, however, I am stuffed and ready to go to bed.

’twas the night before Christmas

My life post papers has basically been sleeping and baking — and eating too, ha ha.

Between my sister, mom and I, we made eight kind of cookies. I think that might be a record for us.

Flourless chocolate coconut drops from Everyday Food/Shutterbean. Oh, man, chocolate explosion.

Anna Olson’s Orange Toffee Slices. This was a  new recipe, and they were so delicious!

Snickerdoodles, a recent tradition for me.

My mom made her classic almond crescents.

Almond florentines.

Gingerbread cookies

My sister made her cranberry almond shortbread cookies. It has almond extract so it’s extra glam!

My family loves these Kahlua balls my sister has made for the last several years. This year we learned my sister doesn’t actually like them, since they are, admittedly, very sweet, but she felt obligated to make them since we are such a fan. I think next year someone else will pick up this cookie

The tree is finally up and I’m done wrapping up presents. To be honest, I wasn’t really feeling Christmas this year, so I decided to read A Christmas Carol off the Gutenberg Project and it definitely helped. No bah humbug here.

Merry Christmas to all celebrating and wishing everyone the best of the season.